Enola is a great character and film maker Bradbeer seems to have cracked the code for fun adventures featuring this plucky mystery solver. The whole concept plays with the Holmes pastiche while adding some girl power and centring the charismatic actor in the title role. All of it makes for fun, smart mysteries.
2 focuses on the young detective becoming a respected mystery solver in her own right, while living in the shadow of her brother and withstanding the weight of the patriarchy of 19th century Britain. With both Brown and the delightful Bonham Carter (so nice to see her do something other than villains again) showing such feminist power, Enola Holmes 2 is a rollicking adventure with a message. Her mystery is set around actual historical events around early English feminism. Does it gloss over some of the more problmatic elements of white feminism of the time? Perhaps, but it does attempt to suggest a more modern approach. This isn't a documentary. Enola Holmes remains a light and fun, but still smart, series that does give its subject and her fans as much respect as the classic material it is derived from.
Holmes himself feels more peripheral than in the first which I think is good. This is Enola's story and he should be more in the background. I like that he and his world are there for her to interact with but I'm glad she is allowed to overshadow him in her own movies.
Enola Holmes 2 is a strong argument for making this a whole series of films centred around this charming protagonist.
Enola Holmes 2
Starring: Millie Bobby Brown, Henry Cavill, David Thewlis, Helena Bonham Carter, Louis Partridge, Adeel Akhtar, Himesh Patel
Director: Harry Bradbeer
Writers: Jack Thorne, Harry Bradbeer
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